De Pablo was born in Santiago, Chile, to an upper-class Roman Catholic family. She has two younger sisters, one named Andrea. In grade 5, she found many people could not properly pronounce her first name of "Maria José" so she asked them to call her Coté (which is a common nickname for María José in Chile). When de Pablo was ten, her mother, María Olga Fernández, received a job in Miami, Florida, at a Spanish-speaking television network. There, de Pablo attended Arvida Middle School and New World School of the Arts where she studied musical theater. She then attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she studied music and theater and appeared in several plays. They include: And The World Goes 'Round, The House of Bernarda Alba, Indiscretions, The Fantasticks, and A Little Night Music. Cote De Pablo graduated in 2000.
After appearing in short-lived series, First Time Out and Fired Up, Leah Remini landed the role of Carrie Heffernan on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens. During her time on the show, she had a supporting role in the comedy film, Old School (2003). The King of Queens ran for nine seasons, from September 21, 1998 to May 14, 2007. Since The King of Queens ended, Remini has starred in nine-episode webisodes of In the Motherhood, along with Chelsea Handler and Jenny McCarthy. On December 15, 2009 Leah Remini appeared as Carrie Heffernan on Lopez Tonight with George Lopez as Doug Heffernan as "The Finale" to The George Lopez Show.
